Minerva McGonagall
:"Transfiguration is some of the most complex and dangerous magic you will learn at Hogwarts. Anyone messing around in my class will leave and not come back. You have been warned." :— McGonagall's warning at the beginning of Harry Potter and Ron Weasley's first Transfiguration class. Madam Professor Minerva McGonagall (b. October 4, 1935) was a witch and a registered Animagus who attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry from 1947 to 1954 and was sorted into Gryffindor house. After her education, she worked for two years at the Ministry of Magic and later returned to Hogwarts, where she became Head of Gryffindor House, Transfiguration professor and concurrently, at differing times, Deputy Headmistress and Headmistress of Hogwarts. McGonagall was also a member of the First and Second Order of the Phoenix. In 1995, she opposed Dolores Umbridge, the High Inquisitor of Hogwarts. She also protected the students from Alecto and Amycus Carrow from 1997 until 1998, and as part of this resistance movement, fought in several battles of both wars, including the Battle of the Astronomy Tower and the Battle of Hogwarts (where she led the resistance against Lord Voldemort). She survived the Second Wizarding War, continued her job as Headmistress for at least ten years, and retired sometime in the 2000s or 2010s. Biography Early Life Minerva McGonagall was born on the outskirts of Caithness in the Scottish Highlands, on October 4, 1935 to Robert McGonagall, a Muggle Presbyterian minister, and his wife, Isobel Ross, a witch. She was the couple's first child, and was named after her mother's grandmother, an immensely talented witch. Her birth proved both a joy and a crisis: Isobel had given up the use of her magic for her love of Robert, and never told him about her magical abilities as she was afraid to mar the bliss of their wedding. Minerva, however, displayed small but noticeable signs of magic from her earliest hours. As an infant, Minerva had no control of her magic, and thus she inadvertently Summoned toys that had been left on upper shelves to her cot, made the family cat do her bidding, and made her father's bagpipes play themselves which would cause baby Minerva to chuckle happily. Isobel knew she must confess her and their daughter's wizarding abilities and so she did, explaining everything to Robert and telling him that they were bound by the International Statute of Secrecy, and that they must conceal the truth about their magical abilities. The two parents remained together despite the shocking revelation, and had two other sons, Malcolm and Robert Jr, and a daughter, Erda. All revealed magical ability in due course. Minerva then, as a child, helped her mother conceal from her father the accidents and embarrassments the young wizards' magic sometimes caused. On Minerva's eleventh birthday on October 4, 1946, she received her admittance letter from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, at the time Headed by Professor Armando Dippet. Now free to be with her kind, and to exercise her considerable talents, Minerva saw how her mother sobbed that day; not only out of pride, but also out of envy. Category:Characters Category:Gryffindor Category:Order of the Phoenix Category:Hogwarts Category:Deputy Headmistress Category:Headmistress Category:McGonagall Family Category:Ross Family Category:Quidditch Category:Transfiguration Category:Has Profile Image Category:Needs work Category:Needs New Profile Image Category:Female